Citizen Soldier
circa September 1780
Find in Google Maps or use the coordinates in your own mapping app:
33.69072, -80.21239Located on the side of the Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Manning, this mural depicts the unique relationship between General Francis Marion and his men who were largely farmers turned soldiers in the fight for independence.
During the American Revolution, the militia like General Francis Marion’s Brigade was totally dependent on a man with a horse and a gun who tended his farm and responded to Marion’s call to arms. In this mural, General Marion and his friend Oscar summon the farmer soldier from his crops ahead of the battle at Black Mingo.
Farmer soldiers played an important role in the American Revolution, cutting the supply lines, intimidating British Loyalists from Charleston to Camden, and thwarting the British from the Pee Dee to the Santee River.
Like many other murals, the artist played along with General Marion's nickname. Can you find the Swamp Fox?